1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to Universal Medium Range Radar (UMRR) and more particularly relates to an apparatus, system, and method for gain enhanced Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) system-on-package for UMRR applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ever since the introduction of the first short range radar (SRR) system in the 2005 Mercedes S class, interest in the automotive radar applications at the unlicensed 24 GHz (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band has been gathering a great deal of momentum with an increasing number of applications being envisaged. The Universal Medium Range Radar (UMRR) is one such example, which operates in the 24 GHz band, and is generally utilized for advanced automotive driver assistance applications such as high-precision parking aid, blind spot detection, and high sensitivity pre-crash detection. In addition, UMRR can be employed as a support for cut-in, stop and go situations, and in Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems. However, the above mentioned radar applications are still limited to expensive vehicles due to their high cost implementations.
The System-on-Package (SoP) platform integrates multiple functions into a single, compact, low cost and high performance packaged module. It reduces the system size and cost immensely by transforming millimeter-scale discrete components into micrometer or nanometer-scaled embedded thin-film components. Within the SoP technology domain, LTCC technology offers many attractive features and possibilities such as an arbitrary number of layers, which not only allows for embedded passives, but also facilitates their vertical integration with other RF components. An LTCC based automotive radar system at 24 GHz has been demonstrated. However, it employs an eight-patch antenna array with a complex feed network, which renders the system bulky, inefficient, and poorly protected from harsh environments.